8 



the poorer qualities will find a market at a poor price. Others have respect to 

 neatness in dr}'ing their fruit, and find the extra care and attention bestowed in 

 preserving the color uniform, without the appearance of burned or decayed 

 spots, amply rewarded in the extra price their fruit brings in the market. There 

 is a step far above this which has been stimulated by ]\Ir. Alden, whose process 

 of dessicating fruit has revealed a philosophy in the matter which is entirely 

 revolutionizing the old process of dessication, and which is still not generally 

 understood. 



The true philosophy of fruit diying is to remove the water}- portions of the 

 fruit, so as to convert the saccharine elements into sugar, by a rapid ripening 

 process, in the shortest possible time without cooking the fruit. Cooking will 

 alter the flavor of most fresh fruits; so will a slow process of drying, giving 

 portions of it the taste of fruit partially decayed. The more rapidly the water}- 

 portions are removed when the fruit has arrived at perfection, the richer and 

 more permanent will be its flavor. The more completely it is excluded from the 

 oxygen of the air, the more perfect will be its color. The rapidit}- of the pro- 

 cess of diying increases the amount of sugar, sometimes as much as 25 per cent., 

 and the increase of sugar will be just in proportion to the rapidity with which 

 the fluid portions of the fruit are removed, while the fruit remains uninjured by 

 heat. 



Every one who has boiled the sap of sugar maple, or juice of sorgham, or the 

 sugar beet, knows that if these juices are left to evaporate slowly no sugar will be 

 formed — saccharine matter will either pass off" in evaporation or will be converted 

 into acetic acid — but if they are evaporated by boiling, sugar will be formed, and 

 the more briskly they are kept boiling, the greater the amount of sugar from a 

 given quantit}- of juice. The chemical change by which the starchy portions of 

 the fruit is converted into sugar, when the temperature is raised, is very similar 

 to that which takes place in the ripening of fruit on the tree under the warm 

 rays of the sun, but much more rapidly. 



A few davs in the warm sun will convert so much of the juices of the goose- 

 berrry and grape into sugar that the acid and astringent green fruit becomes a. 

 delicious luxury. A few hours when the fruit arrives at the proper stage under 

 proper conditions will suffice for even a greater change in the drying process.. 

 This is a study that has only just begun to awake the attention of progressive 

 fruit growers. If the fruit is kept at a temperature of 212° it is cooked while 

 the evaporation is taking place, and no after care can restore the flavor once 

 changed by this temperature. This must be carefully kept in mind. Another 

 point is equally important — the surface of the dr}-ing fruit should be kept moist 

 and soft, so as to allow the easy and rapid passage of the internal moisture ta 

 the surface, and a rapid current of heated air should pass over the surface of the 

 fruit, while drying, to carry away the moisture. Hence it is evident that cold 

 air must not be admitted into any devise for dr}-ing fruit, and also that a draft 

 must be opened above the fruit where the moisture-charged heated air will 

 rapidl}- pass off. - 



